World Heritage Committee inscribes East Rennell on the List of World Heritage in Danger

The World Heritage site of East Rennell has been inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger due to logging that is affecting the ecosystem of the Solomon Islands’ World Heritage site.

The World Heritage Committee determined that logging is threatening the outstanding universal value of East Rennell, and asked the national authorities to provide an impact assessment study of the logging, although it is taking place outside the site’s core area. Forests cover most of the land area of the 37,000-hectare site, which was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1998. The site makes up the southern third of Rennell Island, the southernmost island in the Solomon Island group in the western Pacific.

It is the largest raised coral atoll in the world and its dense forest has a canopy averaging 20 metres in height. The forest is an essential component of the atoll, which is considered to be a true natural laboratory for scientific study.